Fine makes McCabe Furious

Maple Leafs defenceman Bryan McCabe is among the first NHLers to be fined $1,000 by the league for diving.In only its second week of penalizing players who “cross the embarrassment line” when it comes to flagrant dives, McCabe is on a list of five players that the league decided were a little too light on their skates last week.

McCabe was called out for an incident with the Canucks’ Todd Bertuzzi in Vancouver during the Leafs’ 1-0 win. The two became entangled in front of the net and then exchanged gloved pushes with McCabe eventually flopping to the ice. Bertuzzi was given a two-minute minor for holding. McCabe escaped punishment until now.

And he was furious when told by a reporter yesterday that he was now wearing the NHL’s version of the scarlet letter.

“I am? For what? For Bertuzzi pushing me? You can quote me on this. Did I dive when he speared me in the (private parts) and they didn’t call a penalty? They had a picture of it in the paper,” said a steaming McCabe, a player who does not have a reputation for diving.

“They didn’t call a penalty and now I’m a (expletive) diver because he punched me in the head and I went down?”

Before the exchange with Bertuzzi, in a graphic exchange caught by a Canadian Press photographer, the Canuck was clearly testing the strength of McCabe’s protective cup.

If the league’s intent is to remove flagrant diving from its game by publicly humiliating players — the lists are supposed to be posted in team dressing rooms — it doesn’t wash with McCabe. “They can put me down (on their list) … whatever. They don’t call half the (crap) that goes on. I get speared in the (groin) the play before, then I get punched in the head and I go down and it’s a dive? So (expletive) them.”

After McCabe’s rant, he went back into the private area of the dressing room, but he could be heard loudly cursing as he told his teammates that he’d been listed as a diver.

On the list with McCabe are Islanders goalie Rick DiPietro, New York Rangers Darius Kasparaitis and Matthew Barnaby and Ottawa’s Shaun Van Allen.